Followers

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

KOREAN MAXIMS: Fish Proverbs (1)

Korean Maxims
and Folk Sayings about Fish ❶

MBC’s Nolleowa
(놀러와,
“Come to Play”) is one of my favorite Korean TV shows and it has been on the
air for about 8 years now. When one of
the guests on last show spoke of Korean maxims that mention Saengseon (생선, “fish”) (air date: 03/19/2012), I thought I would blog
about Korean maxims and folk sayings about fish to learn more about them myself
as well as to help you learn about them.
(FYI, in Korean, the fish are called either Mulggogi (물고기)
or Saengseon (생선): The native
Korean word Mulggogi refers to any
fish species while the Sino-Korean word Saengseon
(生鮮) refers to the edible
fish species only.)

1.
Korean Folk Sayings about Fish of the Month

Just like we have a fruit for every season (Winter
Oranges, Spring Strawberries, Summer Watermelons, and Fall Apples), Koreans
have a fish for every season – more accurately, almost for every month. Eastern, western, and southern coasts of
Korea have seasons for various species of fish and through the ages, Korean
fishermen have passed down the traditional knowledge of what fish hit their
peak (size-wise and taste-wise) on what month, by word of mouth or in the form
of maxims or folk sayings.

MONTH

FISH

FOLK SAYINGS

Ilwol (일월)

JANUARY

Domi (도미)

“Sea Bream”

●Eo-du-il-mi (어두일미, 魚頭一味): “Fish heads taste the best.” This old saying
originally derived from the fact the head of sea bream is its best part,
taste- and flavor-wise, and is meatier than that of other fish.

Iwol (이월)

FEBRUARY

Gajami (가자미)

“Flatfish”

●Gajami noldeon bbeol masi domi matboda jotta. (가자미놀던뻘맛이도미맛보다좋다): This saying
literally translates to “The mudflats which are the playground for flatfish (after they
have gone home) taste better than sea bream themselves.” Let me paraphrase this
for you: It’s like saying, “The chocolate candy wrappers (that are saturated
with the fragrance of chocolate) taste better than any other real candies.” Just
imagine how great the flatfish would taste in February to have such a
complimentary proverb given to them!
And what a shame, the sea bream!

Samwol (삼월)

MARCH

Jogi (조기)

“Croakers”

●Ganggyeongjange jogitbae deureowanna? (강경장에조깃배들어왔나?): This folk saying translates
to “Did a croaker fishing
boat arrive at Gangyeong Market?” It is used to describe
a disorderly, boisterous conduct or a ruckus. Ganggyeongjang used to be Korea’s biggest commercial market (from
the mid 18th century through the late 19th century)
which was located along the Geumgang
or Geum River. When fishing vessels with a boatful of
croackers arrived at the Ganggyeongjang
harbor in March, all the people rushed to the pier to buy the fish, causing
moments of unruliness. Croakers caught in March are that great.

●Jogiboda motan nom (조기만도못한놈): “A fellow who is no better than even a croaker.” Croakers are known to be
one of the most punctual and reliable, so ancient Korean fishermen disdainfully
described those who didn’t keep their word as “a fellow who is no better than
even a croaker.”

●Samwol geomundo jogineun chirwol chilsan jangeowa an baggunda (3월거문도조기는
7월칠산장어와안바꾼다): “No one will exchange March croakers from Geomundo or Geomun
Island with July eels from Chilsan.” This folk saying is praising croakers in
March that beat the fish of July, eels, in the taste department.

Sawol (사월)

APRIL

Samchi (삼치)

“Spanish mackerel”

●Sawol chamchi han baeman geonjimyeon Pyeongyang gamsado joka
gatta. (4월삼치한배만건지면평양감사도조카같다): “If your fishing vessel returns with a boatful of Spanish
mackerel in April, then you will feel like the Governor of Pyeongyang is your nephew.” Since the Spanish
mackerel taste the best in April, the more of them you catch, the more
lucrative you will make your business so that you will even belittle the
Governor of Pyeongyang, the city
considered the second best and second important next to Seoul in ancient
Korea, just like New York is considered (coming next to Washington, D.C.) in
the States. Pyeongyang or Pyongyang
is the capitol of North Korea now.

Owol (오월)

MAY

Nongeo* (농어)

“Sea bass”

●Bori tajak nongchon chonggak, nongeo hanmeut jabeun
seomcheonyeoman motada. (보리타작농촌총각농어한믓잡은섬처녀만못하다): “A bachelor farmer threshing
barley after harvesting is no better than a bachelorette who caught ten sea
bass.” This
saying tells itself how popular and expensive the sea bass are in May. FYI, the word meut (믓) is a traditional Korean counting unit for fish. One meut
is equal to 10 fish: e.g. hanmeut (한믓, “one meut”) is ten
fish and dumeut (두믓, “two meuts”)
twenty, and so on.

Yuwol (유월)**

JUNE

Sungeo* (숭어)

“Flatheadgray mullets”

●Taesanboda nopeun boritgogae-edo sungeo bineulguk hansabal
masimyeon jeongseung bogo i nom handa. (태산보다높은보릿고개에도숭어비늘국한사발마시면정승보고이놈한다): This folk saying literally translates to “Even though you are in the
middle of climbing the “Barley Hill” which is taller than the tallest
mountain, you’ll dare to yell at the Minister of State when you finish a bowl
of Flathead gray mullet scale soup.” In this saying, Boritgogae (보릿고개, “Barley Hill”) refers to
Korean spring famines that ancient Koreans had to endure each and every year until
the barley harvest. But even a bowl of
soup made only with gray mullet’s “scales,” not the meat, made them full,
happy, energized, and gutsy to have courage to yell at Jeongseung (정승, “Minister of State”). Ancient Korean fishermen sure had a sense
of humor!

Chirwol (칠월)

JULY

Jangeo* (장어)

“Eels”

●Sukjue gosari neoeun jangeoguk meokgo namyeon dareun geoseun
maengmure joyakdol salmeun gukmat nanda. (숙주에고사리넣은장어국먹고나면다른것은맹물에조약돌삶은국맛난다): “Once you taste a bowl of eel soup made with Mung bean sprouts
and bracken, all other kinds of soup will taste like boiled water with
pebbles.” This saying tells itself how overwhelmingly tasty eels are.

Parwol (팔월)

AUGUST

Ggotgge (꽃게)

“Blue crabs”

●Parwol geumeum geneun ggulmasijiman boreum mirwol geneun gaedo
nunmul heullimyeo meongneunda. (8월그믐게는꿀맛이지만보름밀월게는개도눈물흘리며먹는다): “The blue crabs at the end of August taste like honey but even
a dog cries while eating them during the full moon.” When there’s a full moon in the sky, it’s too bright at night
for the blue crabs to move around to look for food because they need to hide from their
predators. Accordingly, they lose
weight during that time. On the other
hand, they fatten up fully inside thus are full of meat at the end of the
month. Yum~

Guwol (구월)

SEPTEMBER

Jeoneo (전어)

“Gizzard shad”

●Jeoneo hanmariga haepssalbap yeol geureut juginda. (전어한마리가햅쌀밥열그릇죽인다): “A dish of just one gizzard shad makes you finish ten bowls of
new crop rice.” It tastes that good in September.

●Jeoneo meoritsoge ggaega seomal (전어머릿속에깨가서말): “(There are) about 15 gallons of sesame seeds in the head of
one gizzard shad.” The September gizzard shad
tastes really nutty and savory as if it had about 15 gallons of sesame seeds
in its head. (FYI, the word mal (말) is a traditional Korean counting
unit for grains. One mal equals to 18 liters. Here in this saying, seomal is three mal (54
lit.=15 gal.).

●Jeoneo gumneun naemsae-e jip nagan myeoneuriga doraonda. (전어굽는냄새에집나간며느리가돌아온다): “The smell of grilling gizzard
shad attracts back home a daughter-in-law who disappeared from home.” Traditionally, married
women in Korea live with their in-laws, severed from their own kin. As the expression - “Living with the
in-laws is spicier than hot chili peppers” - implies, they were expected to
be about everything: the obedient wife and daughter-in-law, dutiful sister-in-law,
chaste woman, devoted mother, and so on.
Especially the emotional landmines with their mothers-in-law who
seemed to have come from hell were everywhere and many times even destroyed
their lives. The daughter-in-law in this
saying might have left home because of that.

Siwol (시월)**

OCTOBER

Galchi (갈치)

“Cutlass fish”

●Siwol galchineun dwaeji samgyeopsalboda natgo, eunbit
bineureun hwangso gapboda nopda. (10월갈치는돼지삼겹살보다낫고은빛비늘은황소값보다높다): “The October cutlass fish tastes better than fresh bacon and
its silver scales are more expensive than an ox.” This saying also tells
itself how tasty and expensive the cutlass fish are in October.

Sibirwol (십일월, November) andSibiwol (십이월, December) have no specific fish of the
month since all the fish taste super during that time.

*Note that Nongeo,
Sungeo, and Jangeo are respectively pronounced /noŋə/, /suŋə/, and /jaŋə/,
not /noŋgə/, /suŋgə/, and /jaŋgə/.

**Yuwol (June) is a compound of yuk (육, “six”) and wol (월, “month”) and Siwol (October) is that of sib (십, “ten”) and wol.
When combined, both yuk and sib lose the final consonants, respectively
resulting in Yuwol and Siwol, notYugwol and Sibwol.